SOMACLONAL VARIATION IN CULTURED IN VITRO TOBACCO PLANTS FROM THE HYBRID NICOTIANA GOSSEY DOMIN. X N. TABACUM L.

Abstract

Incompatibility between the speciesNicotiana gosseyDomin. andN. tabacumL., resulting in complete sterility of F1hybrid, was overcome using in vitro techniques. Explants of stem parenchyma were put in culture and were regularly subcultured on Murashige and Skoog basal medium, supplemented with different compounds: α-naphthaleneacetic acid (2 mg L−1) and kinetin (0.5 mg L−1) for callus induction, kinetin (2 mg L−1) and indule-3-acetic acid (0.5 mg L−1) for organ formation, and ferulic acid (2 mg L−1) for rooting. The regenerants obtained showed significant morphological and cytological variability. They differed from each other as well as from the initial material in stem length, leaf size, and flower morphology. Most of the plants examined were mixoploids. A great number of aberrations were established during the meiotic division of the regenerants. Pollen viability varied from 0 to 92%. The results of our investigations showed that the tissue culture method could be successfully applied not only for overcoming species incompatibility but also for inducing somaclonal variation and creation of a large variety of plant forms.